Line shapes of near-infrared DFB and VCSEL diode lasers under the influence of system back reflections

Laser diode line widths and line shapes are experimentally investigated in dependence on the diode current and on back reflections from an optical system. Four distributed-feedback (DFB)-type diode lasers and two vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have been tested within the same optical setup and using the same fitting methods. System back reflection ratios of light reflected back to the laser have been varied between ?1?dB and ?45?dB and were below ?60?dB when all reflections were blocked. The background of this investigation is the evaluation of different laser types with respect to their suitability for sensor applications in which optical back reflections may occur, for example tunable diode-laser spectroscopy (TDLS). While DFB-type lasers showed almost pure Lorentzian line shapes and line widths of a few MHz, the tested VCSELs had a strong Gaussian contribution to the line shape, indicating stronger 1/f noise, which was also observed in the relative intensity noise of these particular lasers. System reflection ratios above ?25?dB had strong effects on the line width in both DFB diode lasers and VCSELs, while some influences have been observed at even lower reflection ratios for DFB diode lasers. As much smaller reflection ratios are typically required in TDLS systems to avoid etalon-like fringes and self-mixing interference effects, we conclude that the influence on the line width is not the most important reason to minimize back reflections in practical TDLS systems or to choose one type of diode laser over the other.     

Bare bones differential evolution

The barebones differential evolution (BBDE) is a new, almost parameter-free optimization algorithm that is a hybrid of the barebones particle swarm optimizer and differential evolution. Differential evolution is used to mutate, for each particle, the attractor associated with that particle, defined as a weighted average of its personal and neighborhood best positions. The performance of the proposed approach is investigated and compared with differential evolution, a Von Neumann particle swarm optimizer and a barebones particle swarm optimizer. The experiments conducted show that the BBDE provides excellent results with the added advantage of little, almost no parameter tuning. Moreover, the performance of the barebones differential evolution using the ring and Von Neumann neighborhood topologies is investigated. Finally, the application of the BBDE to the real-world problem of unsupervised image classification is investigated. Experimental results show that the proposed approach performs very well compared to other state-of-the-art clustering algorithms in all measured criteria.     

Absorption line strengths of <Superscript>15</Superscript>NH<Subscript>3</Subscript> in the near infrared spectral region

We present initial results of an investigation of the near infrared absorption spectrum of ¹⁵NH₃ between 6468 and 6692 cm⁻¹. A widely tunable external cavity diode laser is used in a direct absorption setup to determine the line positions and line strengths of several lines in that spectral range. Line data measurements on a ¹⁴NH₃ sample are used for validation of the setup by comparison of the results with available literature data. The presented overview measurements on absorption lines of ¹⁵NH₃ have been performed to serve as a starting point for candidate line selection for prospective isotopic ratio measurements of ¹⁴NH₃ and ¹⁵NH₃.     

One-dimensional deformation waves in nonlinear viscoelastic media

This paper is concerned with wave propagation processes in viscoelastic media. The constitutive equation is assumed to be dependent on the strain history, and physical and geometrical nonlinearities are taken into account. Using two equivalent forms of the constitutive equation, the corresponding transport equations are derived along the characteristics of a linear associated process. The high-frequency and low-frequency processes are investigated by making use of the asymptotic transport equations. The similarity of the results obtained by this method and by the singular surface theory is shown and the critical strain gradients derived by both methods are compared. The influence of inhomogeneity of the medium is discussed.     

Negative-parity spectra for mass-18 nuclei in the dynamic-interaction propagator approach

The energy spectra and two-particle strengths of negative-parity states in mass-18 nuclei are calculated by using a Green-function formulation which includes energy-dependent two-particle interactions. The energy dependence is induced by the dynamic exchange of the octupole phonon which appears at 6.13 MeV in ¹⁶O. This state is described within a normal static particle-hole RPA. The two-body interaction parameters are chosen to provide the correct phonon energy and reasonable negative parity mass-17 and positive-parity mass-18 spectra. The negative-parity states are then calculated in a parameter-free way. In order to avoid redundant solutions or ghosts, the fermion lines must be dressed in a way consistent with the phonon exchange.     

Long-time behaviour of soliton ensembles. Part I––Emergence of ensembles

This paper is focused on the emergence of the KdV solitons from an initial harmonic excitation. In the long run this process is characterized not so much by regular soliton trains but rather by soliton ensembles. It has been shown explicitly that under indicated initial conditions the width of emerging solitons are mostly larger than the distance between maxima of wave profiles. Consequently, visible are the ensembles formed by several simultaneously interacting solitons including also hidden (virtual) solitons. The conditions for emerging such ensembles are studied over the wide range of amplitude ratios for typical dispersion parameters. Based on that analysis, it is possible to cast more light to the recurrence and periodicity in the long run (see Part II).     

Neutron scattering from Au,Hg, and Tl

The elastic and the inelastic scattering of fast neutrons from Au, Hg, and Tl was studied at incident neutron energy intervals of ~50 keV from 0.3 to 1.5 MeV. The differential elastic scattering cross sections were determined approximately every fifteen degrees from 20 to 145 degrees. The cross sections for the inelastic excitation of states in Au at 77, 270, 409, 520, 540, 740, 830, 940, 1120, and 1220 keV; in Hg at 160, 208, 440, 610, 980, and 1120 keV; and in Tl at 205, 279, 615, 680, 930, and 1080 keV were determined. The measured elastic scattering cross sections were compared with the results of optical model calculations and evidence for a decrease in the imaginary part of the potential near the doubly closed shell atA=208 was observed. The results of Hauser-Feshbach calculations, utilizing known spin and parity assignments together with those estimated from nuclear systematics, were in qualitative agreement with the measured inelastic excitation functions. The effect of resonance width fluctuations was considered in the context of the experimental results.     

Resolution enhancement in a light-sheet-based microscope (SPIM)

Light-sheet-based microscopy [single-plane illumination microscope (SPIM)] performs very well at low numerical apertures. It complements conventional (FM), confocal (CFM), and two-photon fluorescence microscopy (2hnu-FM) currently used in modern life sciences. Lateral and axial SPIM point spread function (PSF) extents are measured by using fluorescent beads to determine the 3D resolution. The results are compared with values derived from an analytical theory and numerical simulations. The discrepancies are found to be less than 5%. The axial extent of a SPIM-PSF (10x/0.3 W) is approximately 5.7 microm. This value is almost a factor of 2 smaller than in CFM, more than 2.5 times smaller than in FM, and more than three times smaller than in 2hnu-FM. SPIM outperforms 2hnu-FM and FM, while CFM has a better axial resolution at NAs above 0.8.     

Hydroxylammonium-fluorborat (NH3OH)BF4

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